Another Week!

Blood Sausage

Well! This week was full of getting whacked with the humble stick!!!! 

So we did not have our baptism this Saturday!!!!!!!!!!!!! We fasted and prayed and did everything we could but she just doesn't feel sure about the church yet. One thing I learned is that numbers don't matter and that we need to give our best and it is more important that our investigators are truly converted before baptism. But we put another fecha (date) and so we will have the baptismo this Friday!!!!!!! It is just hard because Fl___ doesn't feel 100% sure but she won't pray to ask and isn't reading the scriptures and she isn't doing things that are going to help her progress.  And she didn't even come to church yesterday!!!!!!!! Freakin' satan. 

Then we had 5 of our investigators who are familia. They read some anti-Mormon stuff on the internet! Seriously so dumb. Yesterday we were at their house for his birthday dinner and I totally ate BLOOD SAUSAGE!!! Yeah it wasn't that gross but a gross thought so I couldn't eat the whole thing.   So anyway, I said that if you want to read stuff about our church, spend your time on reading stuff from the actual church and not what people say about it. I told them the website Lds.org where they can find answers to their questions but more importantly to read the Book of Mormon. I asked, "why read about what people have to say about the Book of Mormon when you can read the book itself and know for yourself?"  Then the Spirit was back in the room and it was all better. But freaking satan!!!!!!!!!!! ugh so stupid. 

Hahahaha sorry Mom I thought that you would freak out about the robbing thing. I seriously was so scared when I found out and didn't want you and Dad to freak out even more because there isn't much that I can do... But I think I want to dye my hair brown to help me blend in a little more. What do you think? 

But anyways,  I am doing great. SUPER excited for conference. I hope I can watch it in English. I can understand most of Spanish but lately I feel like I can't speak very well and I recently found out that I have been speaking grammatically wrong!!! Ugh Spanish! I just feel like I have no idea how to study. I have all these great ideas but when the day comes I am so tired. Really just trying to get through the day and trying to add extra effort to learn the language just seems kind of the tip of the iceberg and I don't have any ganas(I don't remember the English word) to keep trying.  So if you could pray for my Spanish, that would be just grand. 

My companion and I are getting along and we have transfers this Saturday. I bet we have one more transfer together. That will be just fine. Change is nice but we get along fine so I will be happy if she stays too. And plus my area is super complicated.  I don't feel ready to teach another missionary this area yet.  Well all is well and I am learning to really rely on my scriptures. I remember when I was in school and would call you all the time because I would feel better after I got off the phone with you. Well now my scriptures are like my phone call home. Whenever I am sad or mad I pray and read one verse and God always gives me a scripture that helps me feel better. 

Love you all. Sorry I am out of time! Tell people to write me -especially when you are in New Zealand??? 

Love you 

Hermana Bailey

Autumn! 5 months

March 25
I am alive! But I am out of time!!!  This week has been insane.  Monday and yesterday were holidays so we couldn't write home but today,  yes.  But we had our investigator have an interview today and it went way longer than we thought - 2 fetching hours!!!!   Ahhhh,  long story short,  the time that I had to write is gone. Hahaha. So right now I need to leave to a family night with our investigators.  I am super excited. 
Um so we are wanting my investigator Fl_______ to get baptized this Saturday.  She doesn't want to. She wants to wait until next week or later!!! Ugh, The thing is, she is totally ready and it is satan making her think she is not ready. So if you could pray with all your energy of heart that would be awesome. Baptism this Saturday.  Lets see a miracle!!!!!!!!!!!!  
Pray for Fl______!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am great. Loving the work.  I will hopefully have time to write tomorrow;)

March 26

Well Autumn has begun!! The first day of Fall was 20th of Marzo and ever since then it has been a bit cold. Nights are a little cold and mornings but the days are just perfect- a little warm but eh ya fue! So weird- right when Fall started it just started to change. 

Anyways, so this week was full of lots of women crying! We had I think 5 women cry to us in one day! Yeah we would just teach a lesson and then they would just start talking and crying and telling us their problems! Um.... yeah a little hard because one of our investigators told us she was raped when she was a little girl. Another one of our menos activos cried because the church is so focused on family and she and her husband got a diverso...... um yeah long story short, she is kinda mad at God and she doesn't believe in God any more. So weird, I don't understand. She believes in some bigger being but she says it isn't God!! Ummmm wow. Satan must hate God so much- he couldn't convince this girl that God doesn't exist but he could tell her to call God a different name. Does that make sense?..... idk Anyways I am just learning so much about how satan works and how little things lead to big things. You remember when I was little and I  wanted to go to public school so that I could know what is out in the world?... .hahahah That was soooo dumb. Dad you are so right. Silly Mormons that want to leave the Mormon bubble. We need to be grateful for living in such an amazing place with protection with the gospel so close! I miss that about Utah! Anyways I am all over the place today. hahaha.  I was reading my patriarchal blessing and I read a part that said I will bless others' lives by them knowing that I care.  I have seen that come to play this week a lot. So many people and their problems, and God has helped me reach out to them and help them feel important. Without God I could not do this. It is seriously a miracle the things we do as missionaries. 

Hahahah Mom and Dad, don't worry. My shoes are great. They will totally last my whole mission.  I get worried that I have been out  months and my shoes still look new. hahaha.  I want to come home with shoes with holes in them!!!!!! 

Anyways so hmmmm I don't know really what else to tell you.... I am totally becoming Argentine.  I used to not like mayo before the mission but because in Argentina they use it for everything,  I seriously  put it on everything and love it.  I actually crave it!! hahahaha And I am used to eating one huge meal everyday and then a little dinner and a little breakfast. :)))))

So that's about all.  I love you all and hopefully when you all hear from me this Monday I will have had a baptism this week!

Any questions about Argentina? It is so different.  I am just used to how people live now and don't really notice the weird things now.... hahahahah Anyways,  love you. Have a good weekend and I will write again Monday

Love Hermana Bailey

Miracle de Salud!!!!

Huge pizza from our investigator for free!!!!! SO nice. Food all the time. God is watching out for his missionaries. 

Well, Mom and Dad,  do not worry about my salud (health) because God keeps sending me miracles. I am so amazed at how many I keep seeing. So last week was a little harder because I was so sick and being sick in the mission is the worst thing ever!!!! So, after fasting for salud and your wonderful prayers, I was magically better the next day!!! Like completely better. Now that was not just any regular way to be healed.  I was sick I think from the water here or something and I know God answered our prayers and helped me receive the energy I needed to get through another week. I can't even explain what a huge miracle it was!!!!! So thanks for praying for me. Super nice. My testimony of prayer and fasting has grown like 10 times in the mission. 

Dad, your business is having some bumps huh???? But you know what? That is okay. Don't even spend one minute worrying about it. Obviously God had all these things happen at once for a reason and your job now is to try and see what God wants you to do with it!!! (Hope that makes sense) 

This week was so great I can't even explain.  I love being healthy!!! Things are just so much better if I am healthy. hahaha. So I will pray for all your health as well!!! So last week I forgot to write about our zone conference. So we had a conference with the zone and the zone president called me at 10 at night to ask me to give a talk about obedience in the conference the next day.  I, being sick that day, was bothered that I had to give the talk. So dumb. So I of course didn't have time to prepare anything because as a missionary do you really have time to prepare anything? nooo.. hahaha So I of course just went with the Spirit.  The 2 Latinos that gave talks before me gave them in English so they had it all written out and prepared because obviously they were speaking a language that they don't really know.  I started to get nervous but then I went up there and words were coming to my mind and people could understand me!!!!! And I felt the Spirit tell me what to say. After I sat down a cute Latina that entered the mission the same day as me (she remembers I couldn't say anything when I entered the mission)  she said, "wow your Spanish is sooooo good!!!" The gift of tongues is reall!!!!! And being a missionary is so awesome because you can teach just about anything on the spot!!! 

Dad don't worry about my salud! The blister/boil that I had before, yeah freak I got a blessing and it went away completely!!! ( I don't remember how to spell- sorry guys) I ended up talking the other day to the nurse that had worked with me and she told me that was a straight miracle and that I need to write that down because I was going to have to go to the doctors here and get it cut off! And I will you tell you what-the hospitals here are awful.  I wouldn't be surprised if a rat ran across the floor;) We have an investigator that was in the hospital this week so we went and visited her like 3 times and there are so many flies everywhere and there are holes in the walls. They clean the surgery supplies with soap and water no mas!!!! So gross. Then when we were there,  a pastor from the Evangélicos came and gave a lady a blessing. He was like telling us we were lost and that we are still trying to find the truth. We just nicely smiled and didn't say anything even though we were so mad!  

Our investigators are doing great.  I have a baptism 28 de marzo!!!! So excited. Has Kinz and Zack had baptisms yet? My mission is like on fire. Our goal is to have a baptism date every Saturday! My area is great. The weather is starting to cool down- sooo great. In the mornings we wake up and play basketball with the elders and on the other morning we wake up and go running with a girl who just got home from her mission. 

My area is so pretty.  I will send some pictures of the orchards that we get to go visit!!! So much fruit here I can't handle it. People give us fruit all the time. I tried a melon that tasted like cantaloupe and coconut- so good. It was just called melon. hahaha

Anyways, don't worry about me. I'm doing great and I am so amazed.

Yesterday at church I was feeling so stressed because people always ask the missionaries questions and so the entire lesson I have to be 100% focused. It is hard because to understand Spanish I have to be really really focused!!!! 

Hahaha So in our sacrament meeting the kids are super loud and the investigators that come get really mad because they say we don't have respect for our church. The kids are the bishop's kids--so frustrating.  Any ideas to help kids be quieter? 

Anyways all is well.  l love you all.  Kami thanks for the photos and videos. I loved them!!!! 

Hermana Bailey

Feliz Dia de las Mujeres

 Dear family! 

Thanks for the videos. Mom I got your 2 videos. The ones from your Dad's phone I couldn't see because you have to go on youtube or something and I can't do that:( But Hope looked so cute and cute little Jackson- sooooo cute- I can't handle it! haha.  Dad I love your antlers. So great! It made me laugh when you showed me them in the video!

So the good things this week- because there are a ton:

So yesterday was Day for Women. So everywhere we went yesterday people would say feliz dia!! And give us cake and chocolates! Then yesterday we were in church and this investigator came and I thought she was an investigator of los elderles! But no she lives in our area and she just came to church because her 5 year old niece wanted to come. Sooo we took down her direction and we are going to visit her tonight! So great how God puts those people in our path. 

Then another day we were contacting. This lady we contacted didn't seem too  interested. We left her with a tarjeta that had a video on it. Didn't think she would look up the video. Well lo and behold, later that day we were walking and we ran into her and she said that she watched the video and really liked it. For some reason we didn't ask her name but long story short we visited her the other day and she let us in her house and it turns out she was a missionary for the Catholic church. Sooo we will see where that goes! Interesting, right? 

OH okay so my favorite family the less actives that we found last week -the ones I told you about ( I think) well we had a family night with them. Seriously so  fun! The Spirit was so strong and I was laughing so hard when we were playing the game. I just love them soooooooo much! Words cannot explain how much I love them.  I just connected with them instantly.  I am convinced I am supposed to be here in Allen for that family!   But they didn't come to church yesterday! So sad! But we will work really hard with them and hopefully God will change their hearts. 

Yesterday was a good day. We worked with a sister in the ward who just got home from her mission. She was so full of light and energy. It was exactly what I needed to help me give the mission my all again. I am really trying. It is just hard because I am feeling sick all the time. My comp said that she was sick when she got here and so it has to be something with the water or something. Me and my companion are getting along great.  I laugh so hard with her, and the elders in our district say we are a great companionship! My comp said that this is her favorite companionship she has had her whole mission. That made me really happy. 

Oh yeah the other night we were sleeping and at 3 in the morning there was a huge rain storm and there was hail the size of golf balls and it was so awesome!!! Hahaha crazy crazy! There are no drains in the streets here so when it rains the streets turn into rivers!

Mom thanks for the advice to enjoy the mission. You are always so inspired to say what I need. Love you so much and please pray that I can forget myself and that I will have the energy to work like a Bailey! I need to show Argentina what a Bailey is all about! 

Love you all Besitos!!!!!

Hermana Bailey

A Full Heart

Dear family! 

So this week just flew by. My companion Hermana Bitton does not have a blog. Sorry, that is too bad. She is from Ogden, Utah. The first couple of days I was just so sad about leaving Hermana Miller I couldn't let myself love her, but through prayer I have learned to and I am learning to love her more and more. She is super obedient which is so good for me and she is willing to work at the speedy pace I like. I have a little bit of a hard time with learning to be humble. She only has one more transfer than me and I hate it when she corrects me! hahha Isn't that awful? 

Yep so I just love my area more and more. The Spanish is a challenge at times but I am learning I can still be an instrument in the Lord's hands even if I can't speak or understand everything perfectly. 

The first couple of days here were great. I got a guy to accept a baptismal date for 28 March! So great. He came to church yesterday and he bore his testimony and he like remembered my name - no one ever remembers my name.  Then he thanked me for helping him in Sacrament Meeting - so great!! hahaha kinda selfish but it made me feel like I was making a difference. 

We saw an awesome miracle yesterday. We had 2 menos activos who said they we were going to come to church. We found a ride to bring them to church and everything. We were so 100 percent sure they were going to come to church. Then they didn't come! Ugh so dumb. So we went by their house Sunday night to see why they didn't come. These 2 are kinda old and have a bad memory so I don't like spending a lot of time with them because they don't remember things we tell them. But when we were there I remembered seeing their granddaughter and she is a menos activo too. I had a feeling to see if she was home and ask if we could talk to her and just see how she was doing. We asked and they were like yeah she is in the back yard. So it turns out her whole family lives back there and they are all menos activo!! What the? We started talking to them and they said that just the other day they were thinking about the church and how they should start going to church and then we came by! The Dad told us he wants to go. The Spirit was so strong and they want us to come back and do family home evening with them and they are going to come to church Sunday!!! SO amazing how God is totally preparing people right now. I am always reminded I am not the one preparing people.  I am simply here to show them the way! 

My new district is kinda small and they are all kinda reserved which is kinda hard for me because my last district was all way good friends. But I am determined to change it so we are all way good friends.  My comp can play the piano really good so I got out of that - thank goodness. The ward is about 50 people. We work with the young women. There are like 3 girls and the leader has been a member for 2 years so she is just learning. They don't have activities or anything so I hope I can help fix the program here and get all the menos activos involved. Because here people get baptized and then just stop coming to church so then we have a ton of menos activos to visit. But the ward is good. 
Yesterday we had 2 menos activos come to church and 2 investigators. So after I was done conducting in sacrament meeting I went to go sit down by the menos activos.  I started to talk to her quietly like how are you and all of a sudden the whole ward was looking at me and all of a sudden a missionary sitting behind me said I needed to go bare my testimony. So I just stood up having no idea what the bishop just said. As I am walking up I look at my comp and I'm like "I just need to share my testimony?" hahaha my comp is like yeah. So I went up there and I just started talking. Man the gift of tongues is real. I get complemented on my Spanish all the time! I think it is a little hard for my comp because people say my Spanish is better than hers. But that doesn't happen very often. 

Nope we don't walk less here. If anything we walk more because I am done with the 12 week program so I walk 1 hour more everyday!! But I love it. Yeah the weather is cooling down but still super hot. It just gets cold at nights and mornings. Here it is higher than my last area so it is warmer and it is pretty humid. 

 That is all I have time for. Hope, have a happy birthday.  I love you and miss your cute little laugh. I hope you have a good day this Saturday at your baptism. You are doing the best thing you could be doing and I know God is so happy about your decision!

Love Hermana Bailey

Oh yeah, Mom thanks for telling me about how God puts you where he wants you because I have been struggling with that this week. So inspired you are! Tell Marissa to write me, because I can still understand even though she is millions of miles away! 

Pictures from Hermana Miller's blog

Here are some pictures and quotes from Bethany's last companion's blog.

From Feb 23:
Ok so transferssssssssssss =( Hermana Bailey se fui! =((((((((((((((  I was seriously just the saddest little girl! We both just bawled when people heard about it! It was so hard. Idk why, because man I've said goodbye to how many people? But with Bailey it just hit me. Maybe because she's my hija, no se. But man I'm just really really gonna miss her. =(

From Feb 18:

Also this Sunday we had 3 inactives in church! We were feeling really down Sunday morning because we had worked so hard to get the investigadores to come to church, but once we got to church we just saw all these inactives coming in and it was seriously so overwhelming. Hermana Bailey said something I really liked, something like "when I was in the church and saw them come in, this may sound silly, but it was like the happiest I've ever been. Maybe not the happiest, but just to see all the work we did come together." I loved that because it's true! It's like the happiest you really can feel throughout the week. Just to see those people you love so much act on the little particle of faith they have and come to church.

Wow, I love the work. Cultral Co really is growing and making little changes. I love it. 

Hermana Bailey is so great! Honestly, I've loved the opportunity I have to train her and watch her grow. I keep telling her she's training me because she is such an amazing missionary and has so much potential!!! I always forget she's new because she just goes out and does everything without fear. She teaches, invites, talks, shares, laughs, everything that took me like 5 months to do, she's just doing it like her first 3 months. I get jealous sometimes because I'm like why couldn't I have been like you when I was new. Haha, she's amazing and I'm so grateful we've been together these 6 weeks! Such a blessing!!

From Jan 19th:

My companion, Hermana Bailey seriously is so awesome and such a huge example. I'm so tired, I've never worked this hard before hahaha no but she's just so obedient and such an example and reminding me how important it is to give the mission your everything. It's awesome, I feel like I've started the mission over again, because I was kinda dying and getting tired. Every day was the same and I was so tired of doing the same thing but I got here and I'm like alright, "let's get to work". It's awesome, I love it. It's like I'm making my mission what I wanted from it.  I felt like my last transfer was super hard and I felt like I was doing nothing. So this is really good. It's seriously awesome. I love her.

Seriously, you know when I laugh really hard like cry laugh. I've done that twice a day, every day, this week with Hermana Bailey. Seriously she kills me.